A DUET OF MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

I used my default recipe for the shells (see it here). The same exact stencil was used for both flavors, but of course the result is totally different. First, let’s start with warm flavors in preparation for Fall.

MACARONS WITH SPICED WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

For shells, use this recipe, adding Americolor Chocolate Brown to color the batter.

Filling:
140 grams white baking chocolate
70 grams heavy cream
10 grams room temperature butter
1 tsp apple pie spice mix (or make your own mix)
1/8 tsp star anise powder (optional, but wonderful if you have it)
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Chop the chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl. Infuse the cream with the spices heating until almost boiling. Cover the pan and let sit for 10 minutes. Bring almost to boiling point again and pour over the chocolate.

Let it sit 5 minutes and whisk gently. If the chocolate is not fully melted, place it in the microwave at 50% power and heat for 10 seconds at time, stirring to fully melt. Cover the surface with plastic, place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Whip the ganache with a hand held blender, until it starts to thicken a bit. Do not keep whisking or the ganache will turn grainy in seconds. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag and fill the shells.

Macarons should stay in the fridge overnight for better texture.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I love whipped ganache, but it is quite easy to turn it into a big grainy mess by over-whipping. Many recipes tell you to wait for several hours or overnight before whipping, but I find that if it is not fully cold I have better control and it is easier to stop before tragedy hits. A little rest in the fridge and it’s good to go.

LIME MACARONS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

For shells, use this recipe, adding Americolor Electric Green with a touch of yellow).

For the filling:
60g butter, softened
1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened
160g powdered sugar
zest of 1 lime
2 tsp lime juice
heavy cream if needed to adjust consistency

Whisk the butter, cream cheese and lime zest until soft and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and lime juice, whisk and adjust consistency if needed with heavy cream. Transfer to a piping bag and use to fill macaron shells. Keep macarons in the fridge overnight for best texture.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

If you prefer macarons that are not overly sweet, the Lime version might really please you. I hope you give these recipes a try…

ONE YEAR AGO: Caramel Sandwich Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Miso-Caramel Cracker Cookies

THREE YEARS AGO: Mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival

FOUR YEARS AGO: Almond-Raspberry Triangles and a Special Cookbook Review

FIVE YEARS AGO: Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

SIX YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower Salad over Hummus

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Queen of Sheba

EIGHT YEAR AGO: Brunch Burger

NINE YEARS AGO: Mango Salsa with Verjus

TEN YEARS AGO: Raspberry Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Brownies

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Scary Good Pork Burgers

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Review of exercise program Focus25

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

SIXTEEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

28Dec2024

GINGERBREAD CUTOUT COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

I am a bit surprised that I never blogged on this particular recipe, adapted over the years from several sources, including a version from Phil’s family. It uses a small amount of baking soda, that makes the cookie puff a little bit but not spread too much. My current favorite version includes ground star anise, I am kind of smitten by its flavor.

GINGERBREAD CUTOUT COOKIES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

375g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 + 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cardamoon
1/2 tsp ground star anise
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter (170g)
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg

Mix flour, baking soda and spices in a large bowl. Reserve.

To a mixer, add butter at room temperature and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add molasses, mix until incorporated. Add egg and mix. Add the flour mixture in two steps, mixing at low speed.

Place dough in fridge for 1 hour to overnight. Roll out, cut shapes, bake preferably from frozen for 10 min, at 350F.

Decorate if desired, when at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I love the smell of these cookies while baking and also as they sit later at room temperature. The star anise is a fantastic addition, a tip I got a few years ago from Haniela.

ONE YEAR AGO: Ube Linzer Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Four Festive Macarons

THREE YEARS AGO: Cuccidati, from Tina to You

FOUR YEARS AGO: Festive Macarons to Welcome 2021!

FIVE YEARS AGO: Episode 6, Cookies in The Great American Baking Show

SIX YEARS AGO: Brazilian Chicken and Heart of Palm Pie

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Roasted Butternut Squash with Walnuts and Tahini Sauce

EIGHT YEARS AGO: The Complicit Conspiracy of Alcohol

NINE YEARS AGO: Candy Cane Cookies

TEN YEARS AGO: Macarons: Much better with a friend

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Our Mexican Holiday Dinner

TWELVE YEARS AGO: The Ultimate Cranberry Sauce

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Edamame Dip

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Gougeres

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Beef Wellington on a Special Night

24Jul2020

BROWN SUGAR COOKIES WITH BUTTERCREAM ICING

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

Since lockdown, Sugar Cookies became a weekly baking activity. I make a batch of dough, divide it in three portions, cut, bake and decorate one-third of it, save the leftover dough in the freezer to use on the following two weeks. By doing so, I can easily include some in every Friday Common Table spread, concentrating just on how to decorate them (although they are very tasty even plain). In this version, I used a crusting buttercream instead of the usual Royal Icing.

BROWN SUGAR COOKIES WITH BUTTERCREAM ICING
(adapted from many sources)

for the cookies:
360 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice (I used this one, see comment at the end of the post)
100 g granulated sugar
100g brown sugar
226 g butter, cut into chunks
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

for the icing:
60 g butter
60 g vegetable shortening (I used Spectrum)
360 g powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla (clear, if available)
2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
pinch of salt
gel food color (pink and purple)
sprinkles
gold powder
lemon extract or vodka

Heat oven to 350. Whisk the flour, baking powder and mixed spice, set aside.

Add the butter (cold is fine) to the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer and cream with both sugars. Add the egg, vanilla and salt, and mix until everything is incorporated nicely.

Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Make sure to scrape the bowl, so that no dried bits of flour stay unincorporated. If you want to divide the dough, do it now, freeze amounts for later and work with half or one third of it right away. Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4″ and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets, freeze for 5 to 10 minutes, and bake for about 12 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. The edges should start to get golden, but do not allow the full cookie to get too much color. Transfer to a cooling rack and decorate as you desire, or leave them plain.

Make the frosting. Combine butter and shortening (both at room temperature) in the bowl of a Kitchen Aid type mixer using the whisk attachment. When they are well incorporated, add the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk, whisking in low speed at first. Increase the speed to medium-high and whisk for a couple of minutes. Adjust consistency with heavy cream or more powdered sugar, if needed.

Divide in three portions. Dye one portion pink, one portion purple, and leave the third portion white. Place in piping bags fitted with 1M icing tip. I left the pink as a solid color, and mixed the purple and white together, adding more purple than white to the bag. Pipe rosettes on top of the fully cold cookies, decorate with sprinkles. Once the frosting is solid enough on the surface, decorate the pink rosettes with gold powder mixed with vodka or lemon extract.

Allow the cookies to sit at room temperature for 24 hours before wrapping or placing in a box.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Buttercream icing might seem like a lot of extra work, but I find it more forgiving because it is easier to get the consistency right. Royal Icing requires a lot more precision, and I’ve had situations in which I had to empty the piping bag, adjust the consistency, fill it again… and REPEAT the process… Not fun. The buttercream will start to crust within one hour, and after 2 hours you can paint the edges with gold if you like. Leave the cookies at room temperature for 24 hours before packing them, so that the frosting is nice and firm. It will be soft as you bite into it.

For the rosettes, I think that mixing white buttercream with the dyed gives a more subtle and elegant effect. I did that for the purple decoration. The pink was piped as a solid color, but then the gold detail did the job of softening the overall look, or at least that’s what I was trying to go for.

Another third of the dough was decorated with Royal Icing the following week. I used the small-batch that I blogged about in the past, you can see it here. Some got a painted icing decoration as described by Helen in this post.

The addition of brown sugar and spices changes quite a bit the flavor of the cookie itself. I liked it so much that it made me think if I could go back in time I would use this recipe instead of the one I had planned to use in a certain tent: a plain sugar cookie perfumed with Fiori di Sicilia and cardamon. But, since I never made it to the cookie episode, going back in time would be a moot point.

About Mixed Spice, here is the composition: ground cinnamon (40%) + ground coriander (40%), complete the other 20% amount with ground caraway, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves adjusting them to taste